As we close out another school year, this completes another writing season, though occasionally I may send out a summer note. Susan and I appreciate your prayers this year. Doctors seem pleased with the results of the trial drug I have been taking the past couple of months, so the plan is to stick with it.
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4)
The testing of our faith helps us develop perseverance which is essential in the life of a believer. Perseverance must be present in order for us to be mature and complete. So as we live and learn, we must keep in mind God’s great purpose: ‘To mold us into the image of his Son.’
The more ‘complete’ we become, the more we look like Jesus. And, of course, the more we look like Jesus, the more we love. One reason we can “count it all joy” as we go through various trials is that God continually gives us opportunities to love. Love is the crowning result of the work of God in a person’s life.
Even Jesus went through a journey on earth that brought him to the ‘complete’ place where he could pour out his love and save the world. “Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” (Hebrews 5:8)
Jesus trusted his Father… and so must we. There is no One more trustworthy.
“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” Hebrews 13:5
“May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Hebrews 13:20-21